Ryan Flip-Flopped On His Devotion To Ayn Rand

Atheist Ayn Rand, whose message was all about self and greed, was a hero to Paul Ryan, until the Catholic Church criticized him for it. He called the notion that he was a Rand devotee “urban legend.” But he wasn’t telling the truth. As Lawrence O’Donnell noted, as soon as the Church pointed out that devotion to Rand underscored atheism, Ryan ran away from what he previously stated. But Ryan was the keynote speaker at the Atlas Society, a group of Rand fanatics. He told them Ayn Rand helped him define himself, and credited Rand for inspiring him to go into public service. Ryan told the group, “You can’t find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral case for capitalism than Ayn Rand.”